NWSA vs Z: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: Z is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. NWSA and Z share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined NWSA and Z exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

News Corporation is a diversified media and information company built out of the 2013 separation from Twenty-First Century Fox, and it now runs four reporting segments. Dow Jones is the largest profit engine, with fiscal 2026 revenue of ~$2.50 billion and segment EBITDA of ~$663 million, 84% of it digital, spanning The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance (~$392 million, up ~16%) and Dow Jones Energy including OPIS (~$301 million, up ~8%). Digital Real Estate Services holds a 62.0% interest in ASX-listed REA Group (realestate.com.au) and an 80% interest in Move, which operates Realtor.com, together producing ~$2.02 billion of revenue and ~$741 million of segment EBITDA. Book Publishing is HarperCollins at ~$2.29 billion of revenue, and News Media covers News Corp Australia, The Times and Sunday Times, The Sun, the New York Post, the newly launched California Post and News Broadcasting, at ~$2.23 billion of revenue but only ~$139 million of EBITDA. Foxtel left the group in the DAZN sale that closed in fiscal 2025 and sits in discontinued operations, so prior-year comparisons look odd unless you separate continuing operations.

Full NWSA guide

Zillow Group, Inc. operates the largest online real estate marketplace in the United States, drawing hundreds of millions of monthly visits across the Zillow, Trulia, and StreetEasy brands. Its business has three pillars. Residential (its For Sale core) connects home shoppers with agents, earning mostly through Premier Agent and Showcase. Rentals monetizes multifamily and single-family listings through advertising and lead generation. Mortgages, run through Zillow Home Loans, originates purchase loans and ties financing into search. Zillow is a marketplace and software company, not a homebuilder or iBuyer, so its revenue tracks how actively people transact rather than the value of homes it owns.

Full Z guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• NWSA drivers: Dow Jones as a professional-information business, not a newspaper; REA Group and Move, the property half of the company.
• Z drivers: Housing super app and enhanced markets; Rentals as a growth engine.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: News Media is the obvious drag: revenue rose ~3% in fiscal 2026 only because of a ~$81 million currency tailwind, adjusted revenue actually fell ~1%, and segment EBITDA declined ~9% to ~$139 million against ~$2.23 billion of revenue, a margin that leaves no room for further print decline or for the cost of new bets such as the California Post. For Z, the dominant risk is housing cyclicality: with existing-home sales near multi-decade lows on elevated mortgage rates, Zillow's Residential and Mortgages revenue depend on a depressed transaction market, and a further slowdown or rate shock could stall growth.

Pick NWSA if you believe its drivers more; Z if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the NWSA and Z guides.

NWSA. Figures are approximate, tied to August 2026 and drawn from the fiscal 2026 10-K and Q4 earnings release, so check live data before acting on any of them. The multiple looks full at first glance and cheaper on a parts basis: 62.0% of REA Group's ~A$23.2 billion market value is roughly ~A$14.4 billion, or about ~US$9.4 billion at ~0.65 US dollars per Australian dollar, which implies the market is assigning something under ~$6.5 billion to Dow Jones, HarperCollins, 80% of Move and the entire newspaper estate combined. Two caveats keep that arithmetic honest: ~$170 million of fiscal 2026 net income belonged to noncontrolling interests (mostly REA minorities and therefore not News Corp's to spend), and the Class A share class has no mechanism to force the discount closed.

Z. These characterizations are qualitative and tied to the asOf date; verify live figures before acting. Zillow is best understood as a growth marketplace stock, so investors tend to weigh revenue growth, segment mix (Rentals and Mortgages versus Residential), and EBITDA margins more than a headline P/E, which can be distorted while the company transitions from GAAP losses to profits. Because there is no dividend, the entire return case rests on growth and eventual free cash flow rather than income.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): NWSA shows revenue (ttm) ~$9.03 billion for fiscal 2026 (year ended June 30, 2026), up ~7% from ~$8.45 billion; Q4 revenue ~$2.34 billion, up ~11%, earnings Net income from continuing operations ~$743 million (up ~15%); diluted EPS from continuing operations attributable to stockholders ~$1.03 versus ~$0.84, adjusted EPS ~$1.18, segment profitability Total Segment EBITDA ~$1.63 billion (up ~15%): Dow Jones ~$663 million, Digital Real Estate ~$741 million, Book Publishing ~$287 million, News Media ~$139 million, Other ~-$203 million, cash generation Operating cash flow ~$1.24 billion (up ~26%), capital expenditure ~$426 million, free cash flow ~$811 million (up ~42%), a free-cash-flow yield near ~5.2% on the current market value; Z shows revenue trend Growing at a strong double-digit pace year over year in early 2026, led by Rentals and Mortgages with a steady Residential base, profitability Reached full-year GAAP profitability, a milestone after years of accounting losses; still reinvesting heavily in Rentals and Mortgages, margins Adjusted EBITDA margin has been expanding into the mid-20s percent range as the model scales; watch the trajectory, not a single quarter, dividend None; Zillow pays no dividend and returns capital mainly through share repurchases, so total return depends on price appreciation.

NWSA and Z are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined NWSA and Z exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.